Maha Kabi Sarala Das

Balya Kala: The Seedling of Genius (Childhood)
One wonders about those early years of our Mahakabi, where history whispers and legend roars! Born as Sidheshwar Parida in the nondescript hamlet named Kanakapura (now falling within Jagatsinghpur), with early-gone Sarala was no pathasala-educated pandit, but rather a gramya buddhi (rustic intellect) nurtured by the oral traditions of his soil.

• The Unlettered Prodigy: While the copper plates and royal decrees remained silent about his childhood, the memory of the people describes him as a manas putra (child of the mind)-a boy who absorbed the Mahabharata and Ramayana not from brittle palm leaves, but from fireside recitals of wandering kathakas.
• Jagannath’s Shadow: Into his consciousness went the tempo of chants of "Jai Jagannath" and the fragrance of mahaprasad-soaking in that spiritual core and exploding later into literary bhakti.
• Divine Whispers: Even then, the village elders must have noticed; this was no ordinary child. His questions carried weighty gyana, his silences were filled with profound dhyana.

"What is formal education," one might muse, "when the goddess herself prepares to anoint her chosen scribe?"

Yauvana: The Warrior-Poet’s Awakening (Youth)
If his infant days were like a batu (a seedling), then his youth was certainly a bana agni (wildfire)! Here was a man straddling two worlds-the battlefield and the pothi (manuscript).

• The Soldier’s Discipline: Under the Gajapati kings, Sarala was not just wielding a khanda (sword); he was sharpening his bhasha with the same exacting discipline of the military. The battlefields taught him karma yoga before he ever opened the Gita.
• The Goddess’s Gift: Then dawned the divya drishti—the Goddess Sarala, Saraswati of Odisha, showered her gyana ganga into his being. Overnight the once illiterate soldier became a kavi-yoddha.
• Mahabharata Reborn: His Sarala Mahabharata was far from being a mere translation; it was a swadeshi revolution! Where Vyasa's exalted Sanskrit went, Sarala spoke in Odia; Bhima ate pakhala, Draupadi wept in Odian meters, and Dharma wore a dhoti.

"Imagine!" (as modern scholars gasp), "A poet who could swing between blood-soaked battlefields and ink-stained palm leaves with equal flair!"

Latter Years: The Sage’s Legacy
The autumn of his life was no quiet fading—it was a purna chandra (full moon), luminous and vast.

• Literary Avalanche:
  • The Bilanka Ramayana—where Ram and Ravan clashed not in Lanka, but in a swarga loka (heavenly realm) of pure Odia imagination.
  • The Chandi Purana—a shakti-stambha (pillar of feminine power), where goddess-worship met grassroots devotion.
  • The Laxmi Narayana Vachanika—philosophy distilled into Odia matira (Odia soil).
• Language as Temple: He didn’t just write; he consecrated Odia. Every pada (verse) was a brick in the bhasha mandira (temple of language). Proverbs, folktales, and janapada (folk) rhythms became sacred texts.
• The Final Ascent: In his last days, the kavi became a rishi. No royal patronage, no glittering titles—just a matted-haired bhakta whispering verses to the wind, leaving behind a dharma-daru (tree of wisdom) whose shade still shelters Odia pride.

"To call him ‘illiterate’," as a contemporary scholar once quipped, "is to call the Mahanadi a ditch!"

Sarala Das's magnum opus, his Odia Mahabharata, was nothing short of a literary coup d'état. While lesser minds might have produced a pedestrian translation, Sarala – with the audacity of a cultural iconoclast – dismantled the Sanskrit edifice and reconstructed it in the vernacular idiom, infusing it with:

Mahakabi Sarala Das: The Re-imaginer of the Mahabharata

Mahakabi Sarala Das did not merely translate the Mahabharata from Sanskrit to Odia—he reimagined it with a deep cultural, philosophical, and devotional sensibility that made it uniquely his own. His version, known as the Sarala Mahabharata, is a towering literary achievement that reshapes the epic through the lens of Odia life and spirituality.

1. A Desi Voice for a Sanskrit Epic

Sarala Das did not translate Vyasa’s Mahabharata word for word. Instead, he internalized the themes, filtered them through his own moral vision and cultural idioms, and retold them in Odia chhanda (meter) for the common people. He gave local flavor to the characters, infused them with Odia cultural values, and introduced elements that had no direct parallels in the original Sanskrit version.

2. Deeply Moral and Philosophical Undertones

Sarala Das used the Mahabharata as a moral mirror. He emphasized the complexity of dharma—not just as religious law, but as social responsibility, personal struggle, and cosmic justice. His characters are not idealized gods or villains—they are flawed, introspective, and caught in a web of karma and ethical dilemmas.

3. Introduction of New Episodes and Characters

Sarala Das freely invented new stories, added characters, and expanded episodes that were either brief or absent in Vyasa's version. Examples include the Dharmapada episode and the war in Patala (netherworld). He also wove folk deities and local myths into the epic, giving it a unique regional texture.

4. Bhakti as a Narrative Lens

Sarala Das was steeped in bhakti (devotion), particularly to Jagannath and Goddess Sarala. His Mahabharata is drenched in devotional ethos, where divine grace and will often guide the story more than fate. Krishna is seen not just as a strategist, but as the Supreme Being guiding the cosmos.

5. Language of the People

He employed Odia, the language of the people, not the elite Sanskrit. His poetic language was rich with proverbs, folk idioms, and rhythm, making the epic accessible and alive. He brought the epic down from the ivory towers and placed it in the village square.

6. A Political and Social Document

Sarala Das also used the epic to comment subtly on the social realities of his time—caste structures, gender roles, and political duties. Kings are shown accountable to their people, and women are given voice and strength in the narrative.

In Essence: The Philosopher-King of Vernacular Wisdom

Sarala Das was, if I may borrow a phrase from the Western canon, the Erasmus of Odisha – marrying profound philosophy with accessible language. His works constitute nothing less than an early constitution of Odia ethics:

• Psychological verisimilitude: His Bhima wasn't merely a Pandava prince but a veritable Odia youth – all unchecked temper and earthy appetites
• Subaltern perspectives: The so-called "villains" like Sakuni were granted nuanced backstories that would make modern novelists envious
• Geographical rootedness: He transformed Puri and Chilika from mere settings into active participants in the narrative

"Sarala's Mahabharata opens a world for one to observe cosmic wisdom being divested from its glittering gown and dressed in chaupal (village square) trappings wherein it entered into a debate on dharma, not with the pin-drop maxims of Sanskrit, rather with proverbs from the salt-sprayed coasts of Odisha given away by the fishermen, or with rhythmic ballads from the village weavers."

Sarala Das was, if I may borrow a phrase from the Western canon, the Erasmus of Odisha – marrying profound philosophy with accessible language. His works constitute nothing less than an early constitution of Odia ethics.

Sarala Das did not merely script religion; he took it out of the temple courtyards and let it dance in the paddy fields of Odisha. His genius was not translation but transfiguration: where no formal rigidity was left in the Sanskrit of Vyasa, there Loka-Bhasa clamored around: where divine allegories carried the earthly odour of Kalia flowers; where grand cosmic carnages of the Mahabharata were not fought across otherworldly battlefield, but in the manas-patala, or witness of the soul, of every Odia peasant.

This was no blind devotion to canon, but a dharmic revolution;one in which the gita of the elites became golpa for the poorer masses. When Sarala’s Yudhishthira wept, his tears were salted with the spray from the shores of Balasore; when his Krishna spoke, honey from the forests of Koraput bound the very essence of his wisdom. Sarala was not any great poet, but a kavi-yogi who knew that true enlightenment can never be imprisoned in grantha-script for behest of the privileged; his language was in no way a compromise-an awareness-a very deliberate desi-darshan (folk philosophy) where the sacred mingles with the profane, just like the confluence of the Brahmani and Birupa.

While Sanskrit epics spoke at devotees, Sarala’s Odia spoke through them: his Bilanka Ramayana did not just tell the story of Sita’s exile but echoed the biraha (pain of separation) of every Odia mother whose son departed for lands far away. His Chandi Purana was not merely myth; it was shakti-upasana (worship of power) reflected through the vision of Odisha’s own warrior queens and village protectors. Here, the goddess doesn't ride a lion; she walks through the jangala of Mayurbhanj with her trident forged from the same iron as that of a tribal blacksmith's axe.

Thus, Sarala Das reigns not as mere adapter of epics, but as Bhasha-Bhagavan-the sovereign who crowned Odia as the language of both bhakti and buddhi, of devotion and intellect. His throne was the mana of his people; his scepter, the katha-danda; and his legacy, an unbroken chain still threading Odia identity from the mudra of Gotipua dancers to the fiery verse of today’s Dalit poets. To read him is not to study literature; it is to witness a civilization thinking itself aloud in the mother tongue of the soil.

To suggest that Sarala Das merely "wrote poems" would be akin to claiming the Taj Mahal is "just a building." He was:

• The linguistic equivalent of the Konark wheel – setting in motion an entire literary tradition
• A one-man cultural renaissance who proved vernacular languages could bear the weight of profound philosophy
• The original public intellectual of Odisha, whose works served as both spiritual guide and social critique

In an era where we fret about preserving cultural heritage, Sarala's verses continue to resonate with the urgency of temple bells at dawn – reminding us that true literature is not preserved in amber, but lives in the hearts of the people. His was a pen that didn't just write words, but forged an entire people's identity.

"Five centuries later," as an Odia scholar remarked, "we still walk in the house that Sarala built." And what a magnificent house it remains.

• Personal Information
  • Original Name:Siddheswar Parida
  • Known As:Sarala Das (after receiving blessings from Goddess Sarala)
  • From -To:14th Century(Late) - 1500 CE(late) (exact date unknown)
  • Birthplace:Kanikapada, Cuttack District(Now Jagatsighpur), Odisha
  • Family Background:Farmer family
• Linguistic and Literary Style:
  • His Odia is early Middle Odia, placing him squarely in the 15th century.
  • He is considered the first major poet of Odia literature, predating later bhakti poets like Jagannath Das and Balaram Das.
• Literary Contributions
  • Major Works:
    • Odia Mahabharat (18 parvas)
    • Bilanka Ramayana
    • Chandi Purana
  • Language:Odia (pioneered vernacular literature)
  • Style:Blend of classical and folk traditions
  • Themes:
    • Dharma and moral philosophy
    • Humanization of epic characters
    • Odisha's cultural identity
• Historical Significance
  • Considered the Adi Kavi (First Poet) of Odia literature
  • Wrote during reign of Kapilendra Dev (1435-1466 CE)
  • Transformed Odia from oral tradition to literary language
  • Influenced all subsequent Odia literature
• Philosophical Contributions
  • Emphasized practical dharma over ritualism
  • Advocated for social justice and good governance
  • Blended Aryan and non-Aryan traditions
  • Promoted Jagannath culture
• Legacy
  • Recognized as the Vyasa of Odisha
  • Works remain integral to Odia cultural identity
  • Subject of numerous academic studies
  • Commemorated through:
    • Sarala Sahitya Sansad
    • Sarala Puraskar literary award
    • University research departments